Mechanical ventilators are used to assist with breathing. Conventional ventilators typically drive inspiratory gases including oxygen into the patient's lungs. Many patients who use a ventilator also need other types of assistance related to treating and maintaining their airways and lungs, such as cough assistance. Currently, to receive cough assistance, a patient must be disconnected from the mechanical ventilator and connected to a separate cough-assist device. After cough assistance is performed, the patient must be disconnected from the cough-assist device and reconnected to the mechanical ventilator. Often, the patient airway is also suctioned after the patient has been disconnected from the cough-assist device and reconnected to the mechanical ventilator to remove remaining secretions in the patient airway after the cough assistance. Because this process may be tedious, it is often not performed in a manner that is most advantageous to the patient.
Thus, a need exists for ventilators to provide additional functionality beyond delivering inspiratory gases into the patient's lungs, such as cough assistance and humidification. The present technology provides these and other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.